Insane Difficulty: Best Character in Darkness Within - Insane Difficulty

To "liven" Rynzer's board a bit, I decided to make a poll. (And because this is a brand new board added to ID ). Vote whichever party member you think is the best overall. And give a little reason why you think this character is the best. Let's get this party started!


EDIT: Added Yang because reasons

EDIT: Added Chocobos because why not?

Developer has bias toward Yang.

I would like to apologize for breaking your poll, LWU.

I had to rebuild the poll, so go ahead and vote again.

For what it's worth, Rydia was my vote. She's frail, but her damage potential is off the freakin' charts, and she has essentially bottomless MP due to Psyche and abundant save points. I had no real issue dropping Odin or Titan on most random encounters, then nearly damage-capping with Bahamut or Flare (or actually hitting the cap by nailing a weakness) on bosses.

I preferred the speed boost from whips to the wisdom boost from rods. She didn't really need the extra wisdom to put up apocalyptic damage numbers, while the extra speed was definitely appreciated, along with the occasional stun if I didn't feel like paying attention to a random encounter. She was also the one I'd typically haste first when Rosa had a free turn.

A close second place for me is probably Edge, due to sheer speed and high damage output. I'll have to try some different playstyles with him next time I run through.

The Chocobo is the endbringer.

But I still love how flexible Edge is in this take of FF4. The way the plot played out also made him seem like a better friend to Cecil. I wound up liking him much more here than in vanilla.

I finished playing this hack as well now!

It's a little hard to compare a White Mage to damage dealers, because it's like comparing apples to oranges. They provide completely different party functions. I could live without one of the other characters in my party, but without Rosa the game would become significantly harder.

Cecil is Mario; he was consistently good, but not great. Edge's power became pretty ridiculous in the endgame (for the rest of the game, he took slightly more damage but had slightly more power and versatility, as one would expect). Rydia shone quite nicely for certain stretches of the game, but for other parts she really lagged in usefulness. Yang is still the guy who hits stuff, so he's Boring but Practical. Kain wrecked Dragons come endgame, could do more damage per counterattack than Cecil by using Jump, and the Blood Lance remained useful for a decent stretch of time, but was weaker overall.

I voted Edge because of his speed and general melee power (which makes berserking him really rewarding). Throw is great for avoid "Fight" counterattacks, and his magic is great for clearing early-game randoms (and image is always great).

And now I'm going to be contradictory and say that I was a little underwhelmed by Cecil AND I am wondering whether Excalibur should be harder to get. I never found Cecil's damage output to be that great, he was an ok tank but never super great that way for me. I'm not sure whether he needs to deal more damage, but I wonder if there is any benefit to giving him some better support spells. I know there's a danger of taking away from Rosa, but haste, or fury, or blink, or something combat oriented would certainly be a better use of his turn than any of his other magic is (except the odd waken). In battles where you really want those spells its not bad having two casters, and Rosa's magic power means that she still has an important role with healing duty.

As for the excalibur, I think it might be good to either hide it behind some kind of boss or maybe require a little more progress to get it just because I got it before doing all of the other optional quests and all of the Toroia stuff. While it was nice having some extra power (although Cecil still wasn't as strong as Edge) it made nearly all of the equipment after that obsolete (Fire sword, Light, Defense, and Avenger). It seemed a shame to not have a place for a lot of that gear.

Cecil's definitely on the radar for some kind of tweaking. It's difficult to place him, because as you said I don't want him to overthrow Rosa as just a brick shithouse healer. On the other hand, I also don't want him doing more damage than Edge or 2H Kain. It puts him in a tricky spot where he needs to be useful (since he's always in the party), but I don't want him to be overpowered.

Edit: Polls like this also help me to see where each character is at and what people think of them.

Something this hack does well is that characters feel useful for different reasons. Edge is an offensive monster, especially late game with all those Agility boosts. Rosa is the best healer and has fun stuff in Blink and Fury. Rydia may only get one turn in randoms but for most of the game, that one turn is enough to clear the field or land a key status. Yang punches stuff with elemental claws and has an effective way of circumventing Fight counters. Kan has durability, jumping to evade MT magic, and a fun weapon pool. Even Mr. Average Cecil contributes in the team setting since no one character does everything well. (he can solo Rubicant 1 as a last resort tactic with a certain setup).

I cast my vote for Rosa. Not really because of healing (though it is important), because of Slow. This spell makes boss battles more manageable and no one resists it. I've never had things go so badly as to panic with Pray and it could very well be the speed advantage gained by slowing bosses, making it easier to keep others alive to do what they do well.

While we should all be honest and praise our lord and master Demon Chocobo, Kain wins this hands down. While he isn't the best until the end, he wins the fights no one else can manage to win. Come last dungeon, the wonderfully overpowered dragons, dragons, and more dragons ambushing you from every chest are literally completely incapable of killing him. He sits in the back row, jumps for 9999, and laughs at their attacks hitting for single digit damage. Without him, and that tanking ability, the game would not have been won.

So until Demon Choco becomes a party member, Kain completely trumps everything on this poll.

It's sad that no one else appreciates this, and I'm the only one who voted for him.

AuraOfTheDawn, on 16 March 2016 - 02:48 AM, said:

PRAISE THE DEMON CHOCOBO.

I SACRIFICE HART-HUNT IN HIS NAME.

PRAISE OUR LORD.